There is a movement to increase energy efficiency of residential dwellings and commercial buildings. For example, governments are increasingly enacting laws and green building codes that require new buildings to conform to more stringent energy efficiency standards and to reduce their carbon footprint. Similarly, public utilities are introducing incentive programs to encourage residential consumers to reduce their utility usage through conservation efforts and increased energy efficiency. In addition, to enhance home safety, homes are required to have fire detectors, smoke detectors, and increasingly carbon monoxide (CO) detectors.
While mandating higher energy efficiency and safety standards are important, they also require installations of various types of devices, sensors, and detectors in homes and buildings. Conventionally, a room may have a motion detector to detect for the presence of people in the room to automatically control lighting, a thermostat to control the heating, venting, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, other power sensors to control power usage, a fire alarm, a smoke detector, and a CO detector. Such conventional detectors and sensors are not capable of acquiring data with the detail necessary to enable high-level analytics or detection of multiple types of events. For example, conventional passive infrared (PIR) motion detectors are built with only one to four pyroelectric cells, which are only good for detecting changes in thermal energy in a given area.
As such, such conventional devices, sensors, and detectors are not cost-effective, because many different devices, sensors, and detectors are required to provide a comprehensive monitoring and control. Further, even when many different devices, sensors, and detectors are installed, they still may not provide the detailed data necessary for intelligent monitoring and control suitable for modern green buildings. As the movement toward greener and safer buildings gathers momentum, these conventional sensors and detectors may become even more cost prohibitive and yet insufficient.